What works? Nesta project helps local authorities discover effective policy
This article by the chief architect of the What Works Network profiles a very interesting new idea about knowledge transfer. An RSN team is currently working on a project looking at alternative approaches to service delivery in rural areas. It seems to me that our work and the innovation which sits in rural communities more generally could be a key component of the content of such centres. The article itself tells us:
But though the What Works Network will be part of a diverse and evolving community, there are still a number of hurdles for us to clear.
First, evidence is rarely definitive. What works for public services now may not work in the future; what works in one region or nation may not work in another. Much confusion has arisen from the adoption of service models that turned out to have been designed in a very different context, or when programmes are adopted but implementation is no longer faithful to the original design.
So what could this mean for local government? It was encouraging to hear Cabinet Office minister Oliver Letwin stress that the announcement of the network is the start of the journey and not the end result. We need continual challenge in our local councils, and an appetite for rigorous experimentation and evaluation to improve our understanding of policies, programmes and practice in each locality.
What is required now is for all levels of government – from local to national – to place evidence as a central tenet of decision-making. We also need to be evaluating these new arbiters of evidence, monitoring the What Works centres as they develop.
As the centres move from concept to reality in the coming months we need to work together with councils to be sure that their ambition of finding safe and efficient ways of delivering public services is not compromised.